Americans Sarah Hamner and Ashlyn Krueger continued their impressive level of play at the 2020 ITF J4 Orlando on Thursday, securing a place across the net from each other in the girls’ singles final before teaming up to also advance to the girls’ doubles final. On the boys’ side, top seed Adolfo Daniel Vallejo (Paraguay) will take on last week’s winner at the Grade 4 in Atlanta Giulio Perego (Italy) while American Braden Shick will look to make it back-to-back doubles titles as well after a successful week in Atlanta.

Hamner, a qualifier in singles, was up against No. 1 seed Alexis Blokhina (USA) in her semifinal match. Blokhina was coming off consecutive three-set contests, and found herself trailing once again when Hamner took the opening frame 6-4. The second set would stay just as tight, with the qualifier managing to pull through by the same margin to close out the win. Krueger sprinted out to a quick lead over sixth-seeded Katja Wiersholm of the United States. After the 6-1 first set, Wiersholm battled in the second but Krueger proved too strong, taking the 6-1, 6-3 result.

Getting back on the court for their doubles semifinal, the pairing of Hamner and Krueger got in their groove to handle last week’s winning duo in Atlanta of Julie Fliegner and Elisabth Jones 6-4, 6-3. They will clash with another American tandem in Friday’s final thanks to Sophie Llewellyn and Mia Slama outlasting top seeds Eva Elbaz (France) and Chelsea Fontenel (Switzerland) 6-7(11), 7-6(4), 10-6.

Top-seeded Vallejo appeared to be on his way to another win in straight sets when he claimed the first set 6-3 in his semifinal match with No. 7 seed Braden Shick. However, Shick bounced back to sweep the second frame and force a decisive third, where a back-and-forth affair went the way of Vallejo eight points to six in the tiebreak. Vallejo’s opponent will be Perego, who is going for his second straight singles title after raising the trophy in Atlanta last weekend. Perego was pushed to a tiebreak in the opening frame by Colton Smith (USA) before securing the 7-6(1), 6-2 victory.

Shick can still leave Orlando with a title, as he and doubles partner Ryan Colby (USA) continued to make their way through the doubles draw. The eighth-seeded team fell behind versus No. 7 seeds Lucas Brown (USA) and Stian Klaassen (Netherlands), coming as close to a loss as possible before rallying for a 2-6, 7-5, 12-10 triumph. Also successful at the doubles semifinal stage was the American pairing of Jonah Braswell and Timothy Phung; they bested fellow Americans John Kim and Kian Vakili 6-3, 6-4.

The singles finals are set for 9 a.m. with the doubles finals to follow. For more information on the 2020 ITF J4 Orlando, click here.